I'm hoping this makes sense, but sometimes you can tell an artist has written a song purely for them, as a sort of passion project, but it finds wider success anyway. It might not have been pushed as a single but it catches on anyway.

 

I guess Ed Sheeran is in a position where he can do that, but he put out "Afterglow" with no intention of it being a single ahead of an album or anything - just a song he liked - and it got to #2 in the UK.

Edited September 1, 2024Sep 1 by Hassaan

Gotta Be You

Does the famous version of Underworld's 'Born Slippy' count? It started out as just a fun B-side remix of a different song released a year earlier, but that version got used in the film Trainspotting, was released as a single and became a huge #2 hit in the UK - Underworld's Rick Smith was genuinely shocked when he heard it on daytime radio, that was a big year for harder dance music making its way into the mainstream along with Faithless's Insomnia which also blew up that year.

Vogue - Madonna intended it to be a B-side originally until she was convinced otherwise!

Somebody That I Used To Know surely?

 

insert any manner of TikTok hits as well - tracks like Escapism, Heat Waves, My Love Mine All Mine or Mary On A Cross spring to mind, especially the ones that are seemingly plucked from left field like Richy Mitch's Evergreen or Ritt Momney's Put Your Records On cover

 

...and the BRAT era in general too :lol: Charli was popular already ofc but the way the brat summer thing look a life of its own was definitely unintentional (that + the album's sound isn't what i'd consider "mass-appealing" either but maybe that's just me)

Somebody That I Used To Know surely?

*The Gotye stan from 2007 has logged on*

 

While I'll concede that I doubt anyone anticipated the degree of success, it was coming off a (locally) big deal album, was released on a major label, had a high effort/concept music video (it was actually newsworthy in Australia when it got leaked early by accident), and it was on the iTunes front page immediately on release. Alongside Kimbra being poised for a big breakout year on a major label (again locally, but it did happen), my hunch is that it *is* a song that everyone involved in it expected big things from. His previous album was that accidental hit.

I would argue Ed very much planned for Afterglow to be a hit. He gets them when he wants them and can hold back when he doesn’t.

Was it a hit though?

I’d call a #2 peak and the 66th biggest song of the year a hit

Some of the early 90s rave tunes such as "Sesames Treet" by Smart E's and "Raving I'm Raving" by Shut Up and Dance. Written for fun, played out at raves, gained a following in the rave scene and then crossed over into the charts. That's why they had uncleared samples, they were only supposed to be played at a handful of raves.

Apparently Shaggy's 'It Wasn't Me' was not intended to be released as a single but that changed after a DJ who had obtained the album early thought it was a strong cut, played it and the reaction was wild

Neneh Cherry, Buffalo Stance. Originally Neneh recorded it as the B-Side to the Stock, Aitken and Waterman produced ‘Looking Good Diving’ by Morgan McVey - which was later covered by Nick Kamen as an album track.

 

It was based on an instrumental version of ‘Looking Good Diving’ and was surely initially meant as a bit of fun, but when re-recorded with Tim Simenon (Bomb The Bass) it took on a life of its own and became one of the defining songs of the end of the 80s.

Ride On Time by Black Box the biggest selling single of 1989, was that created just for one of the Black Box guys to play in his DJ sets? Then when it suddenly became massive they really got caught out by not having the Loleatta Holloway sample cleared

Cruel Summer was an album track from 3 albums prior and ended up being the biggest hit from the album, her most streamed song ever and one of the biggest songs globally in 2023 purely off of the hype of the Eras tour... yes a few months after it took off it ended up getting radio support but by that point it was already top 10 in both the UK and US officially, had it not randomly taken off because of the tour it would have never been a single.

 

I never got why so many Taylor fans used to go on and on about how they'll never understand why Cruel Summer wasn't a single (truthfully I think its her most overrated song ever) but I guess I need to eat my words now :lol:

Does Shallow count for this?

 

So I know A Star Is Born was a major project and pretty high profile but I definitely think Shallow performed considerably better than what was anticipated. I actually think I’ll Never Love Again was billed as being the one that was due to get the big single push initially wasn’t it? I mean the soundtrack had three huge smashes but Shallow is now one of the most defining hits of the streaming generation.

Wasn’t Die for You by The Weeknd too kind of like another Cruel Summer? It kind of detracted from further pushes from the Dawn Fm era when that took off again (then we had the Ariana remix).

I'm not really sure on counting 'Afterglow', he released it as an actual single at a point when literally anything he released would do that well.

Wasn’t Die for You by The Weeknd too kind of like another Cruel Summer? It kind of detracted from further pushes from the Dawn Fm era when that took off again (then we had the Ariana remix).

 

IIRC that had been doing rounds on TikTok before it recharted so that was part of the reason for its success, plus the Weeknd having general popularity at the time, especially from the starboy album where that, star boy, Stargirl interlude etc all went viral pretty simultaneously

There are tons of songs originally put out as a B-side that got flipped and became a bigger hit

 

Maggie May - Rod Stewart

Hound Dog - Elvis Presley

The Model - Kraftwerk

I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets

Wipe Out - The Safaris

Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers

I Feel Love - Donna Summer

Green Onions - Booker T & The MGs

Beth - Kiss

I Say A Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin

La Bamba - Ritchie Valens

C'Mon Everybody - Eddie Cochran

How Soon is Now? - The Smiths

Into the Groove - Madonna

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

Sweetest Thing - U2

God Only Knows - Beach Boys

Tequila - The Champs

Aint't No Sunshine - Bill Withers

Not Fade Away - Buddy Holly

I'm not really sure on counting 'Afterglow', he released it as an actual single at a point when literally anything he released would do that well.

I wasn't too sure either, but he wrote this in an Instagram post when he released it:

Hey guys. Afterglow is a song I wrote last year that I wanted to release for you. It's not the first single from the next album, it's just a song I love, and hope you love too. Enjoy !